Ready-to-assemble, or knockdown, furniture provides several advantages over fully assembled furniture. For example, ready-to-assemble furniture has reduced volume for shipping; the retailer has greater flexibility in inventorying components, since the customer can mix/match components to get his desired style; the retail customer can also replace a damaged component without replacing the entire unit; and the furniture is more easily moved and stored.
The prior art describes several ready-to-assemble furniture constructions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,381 to Schramek describes a knockdown sofa in which downwardly extending tongue pieces on the sofa back and arms are slidably inserted into truncated "V"-shaped openings in the sofa base. The tongue pieces are then bolted to the base for stability.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,704,911 to Milakovich describes a knockdown chair in which bolt heads extending from the inside of the arms are fitted within keyhole slots in the sides of the base. The bolts are then locked into place to prevent the arms from being unintentionally detached. In addition a peg with ratchet teeth extends from the bottom of the backrest into a socket in the seat, and is held in place by a spring loaded ratchet dog.
A similar structure is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,632,150 to Milakovich, except that the seat is mounted on the legs by cylindrical pegs extending up from the leg assembly through holes in the seat. A locking mechanism fits into a step-down neck portion on each peg to prevent the pegs from being retracted.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,066,982 to Brower describes a knockdown frame for furniture in which the arms are mounted on the base with bolts which extend upwardly from the legs through base pieces and holes in the lower part of the arms. The back is held in place by a combination of slots in lower extended portions of the back that rest over pegs extending from the base, and projections which extend upwardly from the arms into spaces within extended side members on the back.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,221,348 to Siegel describes a sofa bed in which the back is held in place by a combination of downwardly extending pegs, upwardly extending supports, and bolts. U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,720 describes a sofa bed in which the top is held in place by templates having a rectangular bottom and an angled top, which fix into slots in the base and top. U.S. Pat. No. 2,466,204 to Brown describes a chair in which dowels extend downwardly from the back and arms into bore openings in the base.
The acceptance of ready-to-assemble furniture has been limited by at least one of two disadvantages. First, most prior art structures are difficult for the unskilled homeowner to assemble or disassemble and, require considerable assembly or disassembly time even for the relatively skilled individual. Secondly, prior art assemblies, with the possible exception of some assemblies which use bolts and complex locking arrangements, are less than rigid when assembled, giving the impression of cheapness and instability.